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3 Year Anniversary | Atlanta | Northern California

Greetings everyone,

Today we finished our 3 year apple anniversary goma! It was unique because we had all women in attendance except, of course, for Tyrone our Goma dog. The weather was stunningly perfect and one guest reported that the wind blew in two different directions simultaneously.Thanks to the work of Maryanne Davis, we were able to capture some really nice images. Please enjoy them below.

Also in other big news, we will do a Goma in Atlanta on Nov 7th. Our temple carpenter, Adam Bradley san, has also invited us to conduct one for his Aikido Dojo in Northern California. And we received a very nice invitation to do one next spring in Vermont as well. So, very exciting developments!

It's been three years

Our three year anniversary Goma will be Thursday October 28th. The October Goma is my favorite of the year for several reasons:

1. The foliage is beautiful
2. The air is cool and crisp
3. Apple Cider!
4. It's our anniversary
5. The veil between the physical and non physical worlds is very thin around Halloween

Please consider joining us and please do tell your friends.

Three years ago we performed the first public Goma with a small group of friends around a campfire. Please see www.fireceremony.org/dojo/dojo.html for pictures of then and now. It is truly amazing how much has changed in three short years.

Atlanta, GA:

Our friend in Atlanta will be hosting a Goma on Sunday, November 7th. If you are in the Atlanta area, please contact me as we would love for you to attend.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 11TH!

On Saturday September 11th, my teacher, Rev. Jomyo Tanaka will be at our Goma. This is a very special event as this is Rev. Tanaka's first visit to CT from Japan.

This is a don't miss event...please do your best to join us.

Contact for more info gomaceremony@gmail.com

Major Construction Work Completed!

Mr. Adam Bradley of Madera Sculptures, our temple carpenter, just completed construction of our new Torii gate. Over the past 9 days, we completed 3 major projects. The attached pictures are of the finished projects.

Completion of the Fudo Myoo housing Structure: We dug the structure into the ground, completed a new border, and filled with new white marble

Construction of the Tamagaki Shrine Fence: Adam san constructed a traditional tamagaki fence to surround the shrine. Each premium white pine slat had to be cut at the exact prescribed angle and this project took a full 5 days. The posts were constructed from Douglas Fir.

Construction of Torii Gate: This is the project we are most excited about. We found the perfect sacred tree and made the special offering before cutting. The tree was a standing dead tree with beautiful turquoise lichens growing on the bark. We had to build to precise specifications and we hit several snags and Adam san had to rework the design. Ultimately we chose the more rustic Kuroki style Torii. The Nuki lower cross beam, was hand milled by Adam san from the same tree. Later we will build the more elegant Myojin style Torii.

Video from the Seminar 7/18/2010

In advance of Sensei's September visit we had a seminar on Sunday July 18, 2010 to explore some elements of Shingon and Shinto daily practice. We culminated the seminar with the short form of the Goma. Please enjoy some video from that ceremony on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSDnGUmbhh8

Special Event - July 18th

I have had a couple of requests to hold a seminar on Sunday, July 18th. This is a wonderful opportunity to experience the meditations and chanting from our Shingon Tradition. We will share a relaxed casual day of Shingon and Shinto, the traditions behind the goma, as well as delve deeper into the various aspects of the Goma.

If you are looking to develop a daily meditation practice, become more involved with the Goma, or are just curious about Japanese spirituality, this is a perfect opportunity.

And we are very excited that during the time of the seminar, our Temple carpenter/sculptor - Mr. Adam Bradley will be here from Sacramento California working on some new projects! We hope Adam san will share some of his insights from years of aikido training and experience as the live in shrine assistant for Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America in Washington State - the lineage of our Shinto practices.

Here's some of what we will cover:

1. The layout of the dojo - the various aspects of the shrine and temple sections

2. Setting up a sacred space

3. Basic meditations and chanting

4. A bit of cosmology

5. The history of the Goma...and sacred fire in general

6. The individual pieces that comprise the Goma

7. The role of Goma assistant

8. Special chanting for the Goma

9. And we will conclude with an abbreviated Goma\

And there will be plenty of time for Questions and Answers and spontaneity.

Let's get started around 1pm. Please contact us for more information - gomaceremony@gmail.com